A weekend of memory making

Bath time!

Henry and Anabelle got their turn to have baths in the kitchen sink.  Henry was being silly and Sissy was just being her cute self. Look at those eyelashes!

Enjoying the playhouse

Henry wanted to play by himself so Anabelle waited her turn. 

The Old Spaghetti Factory

We tried to go to a few places that are special to Cherise during the weekend.  I picked up pastries from Grand Central Bakery as we've had coffee there multiple times when they've been in town.  I took their "unofficial" engagement portrait there. We went to the zoo where they got engaged and to the beach that is always a special place. The Old Spaghetti Factory is one of those fancy family friendly restaurants so it was a great place to take the kids for lunch on Sunday.

We sat in the Tiffany Room. It had a beautiful view of the grounds and the river.

This picture of Henry was taken while we were waiting for the place to open for the day. The one of Anabelle was after she had finished her lunch.

I liked the bike-rack photo with the inpatients in the foreground. Just trying out more camera functions.

Morning of the move

 Garrett and the girls couldn't get enough time with Anabelle. Since Kiel and Cherise brought some of their baby equipment that is no longer needed we had two exersaucers in the living room. Gar climbed into one and said "Me baby." He had a blast spinning around with Belle-belle. 

Danika was dressed and ready to go to her Kindergarten orientation but played with her little cousin up until the time we had to leave. 

Garrett and Bellie shared a tender moment. He loves her so much!

"Henry Moves to San Diego"

Cherise made a wonderful book for Henry. It tells the story of his move from Walla Walla to California. He can read each page and it has great pictures. It talks about his happy family and their packing, travel and new house. Very very sweet!

In a way I'm glad I didn't see them drive off.  

It's been tough enough thinking of them being gone from the Pacific Northwest. 

I think Henry needs a book that is titled 

"Grampa and Gramma visit San Diego"

There will be a page for a picture of a plane and a picture of us at the Zoo and Seaworld and the beach and...

ZOO ~ with Henry and Anabelle

Map quest

Henry was told that he couldn't walk and read his map at the same time. So he simply sat when he needed to see where we were going.

Archway pose

I didn't tell them where to stand but said I'd like to get a group shot. We were a small group for the day. Krystle stayed home, Ry went to church and Hayden wasn't feeling well.

Joylynn missed out on both zoo trips, but her kids went with us earlier in the week so almost everyone got to "walk with the animals, talk with the animals, grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals" at some point.

Cameron and his mini me.

Great animal pics

I really love the zoom feature on this new camera! The auto focus is great too. 

Little walker girl

Anabelle is wanting to get moving! She has been walking around furniture and taking a few steps on her own but she loves when someone holds her hands so she can step out and get where she wants to go. I believe that Cherise is going to have to find a chiropractor in her new neighborhood before too long. It can't be comfortable to bend over like this all the time.

Sitting on the statues

Anabelle and Henry and the lion cubs. 

They climbed and sat on the adult sized ones too but these were too cute not to post.

What a snake "sees"

One of the teaching displays has a heat sensing camera. It talks about how snakes see through feeling the heat coming off of objects. Pretty cool infrared thermal imaging.

Nice sunny Sunday

 Harlan took the day off from his duties at church so we could have some more time with Kiel and Cherise and the kids. It really was a nice day to be hiking around the zoo. 

This is a nice photo of Har and me.  I've gotten a few good pictures of us lately.  I  especially like the location of this one because we are standing by the mountain goat exhibit and Har and his "goatee" fit right in!

It's starting to feel like Fall in the mornings when we wake up.

I look forward to some more early morning trips up to the zoo when Lyssa and the kids are here.

Our Beach Trip 2012

Road trip

We caravanned to the beach with three vehicles. Joylynn and I were in our van with her 4 and Henry. Cherise and Kiel had Krystle and Anabelle in their rig.

Har and the boys rode in the LeBaron with the top down. They had too much fun with those corners on the way to the coast.

The Pacific Ocean

Joylynn snapped this picture as we headed to Oceanside.

Here is a stock photo from a website showing some of the gorgeous views from this beach.  We had a misty fog blowing in off and on all day so we didn't get to see these monoliths. I think another trip down there is in order.

The family frolicking 

There was sandwich and sand eating, lots of digging, some castle building, kite flying, angel making and lots of fun.

The kids - two

They may be a bit goofy but they're ours. We missed Alyssa and Courtney being there. I love this picture!  The each are displaying a facet of their personalities. Sweet, sassy, silly, smiling, smirking and secretly happy to be done with these photos!

Ice cream stop

What would a trip to Tillamook be without a stop at the Cheese Factory? They make the best cheese ever! But their ice cream is pretty good too. I don't think you'd get any argument from these guys. 

Drive thru supper pick-up

The girls and I got to ride in the LeBaron on the way back to town. Since both of the moms were with me we motioned for the guys to park while we went through the drive through at Taco Bell. Cherise and Joylynn shuffled soft and hard tacos to get everyones order straight.

We saw a lurker in the bushes next to the drive thru.  I wish I had an extra seat in the car.  

He was pretty cute!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

There were lots of laughs and reminiscences emanating  from the back seat of the car. They were teenagers again for a few moments. They were missing their Alyssa though, so they made a pseudo-sister. 

We are going to have to have another big family beach trip when our Virginia kids and our California kids are back up here at the same time. No matter the time of year, I think we should do it!